There was a smart comment on one of my recent posts on the military industry.  Fair enough: I was probably a bit too harsh.  Here’s the trick, though: I recognize that we really need to protect ourselves, and that the military industry helps us do that.  So yes, it’s a necessary evil.  Just as cops holding guns, and the people who make those guns, are a necessary evil.

But let’s be clear: it’s still an evil.  Weapons are designed to kill or at least seriously injure people.  War weapons often cause massive damage to property and to innocent human life.  Of course, there are “smart bombs” and defensive missiles, and things like this, but they tend to be the exception (a) and (b) they rarely prevent any death or destruction.

And this is what’s most important: the military industry has a vested interest in there being more wars, or at least more preparedness for wars.  Of course, they are affected by policy, and of course there is coercion in all directions.  Of course these contractors pay taxes too.  But then they get paid.  A lot.  And this payment makes them more likely to support a certain kind of military intervention rather than not.  They’re not neutral sources.  Of course, if you’re a contractor, you don’t think you’re biased–at least, I hope you don’t.  You think you’re doing the right thing.  But you’re in a system in which more tech is always the right answer AND more tech makes your company stay afloat.  So of course more military technology has to save the day, and it just so happens that the stuff you’re making works out best.

My uncle’s a military contractor.  He’s a great guy.  But he’s also got kids to feed and bills to pay and he does this by selling weapons that might or might not be used to kill people (yes, I know, this is for our defense, but let’s still call a spade a spade).   So I think there should be, honestly, a presumption of guilt about those deals rather than a presumption of innocence.

(Frankly, I think there should be a presumption of guilt about most things, but that’s my take on original sin, and it’s a totally different post).